Protestors to rally outside company headquarters Thursday as insurance giant continues to let its pharmacy benefits arm, Express Scripts, prey on independent and specialty pharmacies and disrupt patient care

Healthcare advocates from across the country affiliated with AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will protest Cigna – and, in particular, its pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Express Scripts (ESI) – for its unethical practices that disrupt patient care and harm patient access to their chosen pharmacies.

Cigna purchased ESI, one of the country’s largest PBMs, in 2018. Express Scripts is infamous for driving independent and specialty pharmacies out of its plan networks and, ultimately, out of business by imposing arbitrary and oppressive conditions, including clawbacks and starvation-level reimbursements. As the controller of drug benefits for more than 100 million people in the U.S., Express Scripts can impose take-it-or-leave it terms with impunity. Express Scripts’ goal is to sever providers’ relations with their patients and force those patients into Express Scripts’ own specialty mail order pharmacy construct, Accredo.

“Disrupting the bond between a pharmacy and patient is especially despicable when it comes to people living with HIV who still suffer from stigma and other challenges,” said Rasheed Gonga, AHF Advocacy Manager. “Forcing them to leave their trusted local pharmacist is bad for the individual and bad for public health. AHF is calling on Cigna to do the right thing and stop Express Scripts’ unethical and harmful actions.”

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.7 million individuals in 45 countries in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our Ahfter Hours podcast.

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